Easy Brackish Fish

[ScoutCarcer]

Ive been thinking about getting a brackish tank, but I cant seem to find an easy fish I like. Whats an easy brackish fish?

 

[AMS]

Depends on what your definition of "easy" means.

 

[nmonks]

Brackish water fish tend to be relatively hardy, so once settled in, are often long-lived. Problems with things like whitespot and fungus are rare, because brackish water tends not to be popular with external parasites. Most species are easy to feed, and almost all of them are community fish at some level (though this doesn't mean that they aren't predators, so choose tankmates with appropriate care). So, all else being equal, brackish water generally can be considered "easy fish".

However, there are a few species that are demanding. Violet gobies, for example, are rather more work than the salesman in the store will suggest, and mudskippers even more so, despite both species being durable, almost incredibly resilient animals. Tne biggest problem with most species is size: the popular brackish water fish are large fish. Monos regularly get around 12 to 15 cm in home, scats and archers a bit bigger, and Colombian sharks will easily top 30 cm within a year or two.

If you want to experimen with brackish water oddballs, I'd suggest focusing on the smaller species, like waspfish, knight gobies, orange chromides, figure-8 puffers, and so on. The more docile, low salinity, brackish water fishes can be kept with glassfish, wrestling halfbeaks, Florida flagfish, and mollies, opening up a nice array of species for a community tank. All of these fish will work fine in 20 gallons plus.

Cheers,

Neale

 

[Flumpus]

My first brackish tank (and second tank after I seriously got into the hobby) has a figure 8 and knight gobies, and I've found them to be extremely easy to keep. They're enthusiastic eaters with almost everything I feed them (although they gave me a strange look the one time I was out of food and tried to give them freeze dried bloodworms), and have been "easy", but interesting fish to keep.